A nasal vaccine against Covid-19 is currently in development and is claimed to elicit immunity in the respiratory tract reports Science Daily.
According to the report, Navin Varadarajan, University of Houston M.D. Anderson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and his colleagues announced the development of an ''intranasal subunit vaccine that provides durable local immunity against inhaled pathogens.''
"Mucosal vaccination can stimulate both systemic and mucosal immunity and has the advantage of being a non-invasive procedure suitable for immunisation of large populations," said Varadarajan.
"However, mucosal vaccination has been hampered by the lack of efficient delivery of the antigen and the need for appropriate adjuvants that can stimulate a robust immune response without toxicity."
The candidate vaccine contains portions of the spike protein used by the coronavirus to invade human cells. A protein that stimulates the immune system is used as a booster, which is packaged in nanoparticles with a diameter of only 100 nanometers.
Experiments in mice have shown that "the candidate vaccine is safe, elicits an immediate immune response - within seven days - and offers immunity to SARS-CoV-2," said Varadarajan.
The vaccine is stable for 11 months at refrigerator temperature, which would greatly facilitate its availability in the poorest countries, many of which do not have the infrastructure to store vaccines that require deep freezing.
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